Election-related Legal Opinions and Comments

Joint Opinion on the Electoral Law and the Electoral Practice of Albania

On 24 August 2011, the Secretary General of the Council of Europe asked the Venice Commission to provide an opinion on the question of which improvements should be made to electoral legislation and practice in Albania in the light of recent experience. The present Opinion has been prepared jointly by the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR on the basis of comments by Mr Pieter van Dijk (member of the Venice Commission, the Netherlands), Mr Oliver Kask (member, Estonia), Mr Konrad Olszewski (expert of the Venice Commission, Poland) and Ms Marianna Skopa (expert, OSCE/ODIHR).

At the request of Georgian authorities, the European Commission for Democracy Through Law (“the Venice Commission”) of the Council of Europe and the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (“OSCE/ODIHR”) have prepared the present opinion on the draft Election Code of Georgia (“the draft Code”). The most recent previous joint opinion of the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR is dated 9 June 2010 and contains comments on amendments up to March 2010. This Joint Opinion contains commentary and recommendations on the Code as drafted through 22 November 2011 and based on draft revised amendments sent by the authorities to the Venice Commission on 8 December 2011. Additionally, the Venice Commission and the OSCE/ODIHR are aware that additional amendments were prepared on 10 December; these amendments, however, are not commented upon in this review.

In a letter dated 22 June 2011, the President of the National Assembly of Armenia requested the Council of Europe’s European Commission for Democracy through Law (Venice Commission) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe’s Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) to provide an assessment of the recently adopted Electoral Code of the Republic of Armenia (CDL-REF(2011)029rev). This joint opinion comments on the most recent version of the Electoral Code, adopted 26 May 2011. Earlier opinions of OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission as well as the numerous election reports from previous OSCE/ODIHR and Council of Europe observation missions to Armenia provide an excellent background for understanding the historical development of electoral legislation in Armenia.

Joint Opinion on the Revised Electoral Code of the "Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia"

On 15 December 2010, the Ministry of Justice of “the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia” requested the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) to prepare an opinion on amendments to the Electoral Code (“the Code”). At the time of the request, the Code was still a draft. As the Ministry of Justice requested a response within a short timeframe, OSCE/ODIHR and the Venice Commission initially prepared a set of informal comments on 11 January 2011.

Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Election of People’s Deputies of Ukraine

On 23 June 2011 the Minister of Justice of Ukraine, Mr Oleksandr Lavrynovych, requested the Venice Commission and OSCE/ODIHR to comment on the text of the draft Law of Ukraine on Election of the People’s Deputies of Ukraine (Doc. CDL-REF
(2011) 034) hereinafter, the “draft law”). The draft law was prepared by the Working Group on reforming and codifying the electoral legal framework with the aim to bring it in line with democratic standards following the presidential decree of 2 November 2010. The Working Group consists of representatives of different state institutions, parliamentarians, civil society representatives, academics and domestic legal and constitutional experts. Invitations to the working group meetings were also made to international experts.

On 3 December 2010, the President of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe (“the Congress“) requested the Venice Commission to prepare an opinion on the Election Code of Bulgaria (“the Code”). This request followed a monitoring visit to Bulgaria by a delegation of the Congress from 24-26 November 2010. At the time of the request, the Election Code was still a draft. On 19 January 2011 the National Assembly of Bulgaria adopted the Election Code, which entered into force in January 2011. The Venice Commission and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) decided to provide a joint legal opinion on the adopted Code.

Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on Amendments to the Law on Election of Councillors and Members of Parliament of Montenegro

At the request of the President of the Parliament of Montenegro, the Venice Commission and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) have assessed the Draft Law (CDLREF(2011)021) on Amendments to the Law on Election of Councillors and Members of Parliament of Montenegro (CDL-EL(2010)010), prepared by a multi-party working group. This request was submitted on 9 May 2011.

Joint Opinion on the Draft Law on ‘Altering and Amending the Law on Election of Members of Parliament’ of the Republic of Serbia

On 25 February 2011, the Council of Europe office in Belgrade forwarded to the Venice Commission an official request from the Speaker of the Parliament Ms. Djukic Dejanovic for an urgent expertise of the draft partial changes of the Law on the election of representatives of the Republic of Serbia (hereafter “The Election Law”), regarding the blank resignations and the
allocation of seats in the parliament (CDL-EL(2005)026 and CDL-REF (2011) 011).
Proposed changes have been made by the Parliamentary working group. This is one of the crucial issues for the negotiations process between Serbia and the European Union as well as for the Monitoring Committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe.
The draft Law of the Republic of Serbia "Altering and Amending the Law on election of Members of Parliament concerns Articles 84, 88 and 92 of the law on election of MPs. Corresponding changes were introduced in Articles 22 and 198 of the Rules of procedure of the National Assembly…